Frank Hall-Bentick Education Fund

This education fund was the brainchild of disability advocate, Frank Hall-Bentick, AM in 2008. Together with his 2 sisters Lesley and Annette and a group of friends, Rae, Lyndall, Cath, Ros and Jody the fund was set up to aid education of people with disability.

The fund assists indigenous and non-indigenous people with disability to participate in both formal and informal education programs through small financial grants. The belief is in the importance of education and it should not be measured in graduate degrees and diplomas or in salaries people achieve or careers people have undertaken, but it should be measured by peoples’ continual learning of cultures, relationships, history, tolerance and honing skills to apply this learning.

Unfortunately for many people with disabilities, their early years are more about cure, care and rehabilitation than stable, well-grounded education. The skills to make and retain careers, relationships and friends are develop while they attend school however, continuing disruption of this education impacts greatly on this learning. Many indigenous people with disabilities experience further disruption to their education due to poverty, isolation, lack of services and family breakdown.

Education is continuously growing and developing so many people undertake courses to pick up the education that was not completed or to begin a new education. With the development of technology, education has become more accessible for people with disabilities allowing people to complete higher levels of education which in turn can lead to more complex and skilled work.

This fund distributes financial grants of up to $2,500 to assist people with disabilities to continue or commence their learning. The fund was renamed in 2023 to honour the tireless advocacy work that Frank did for people with disability.

Click here to download the FHBEF Application Form formatted for Adobe Acrobat.